BabyBantam
Member
My 3 girls are soggy and constantly dealing with wet muddy feet. Now Nancy is well again and so stress not such an issue, I'd like to move the girls from a grass base in the ark to a fixed base for the winter.
I move them weekly around the garden, but because it's so wet and muddy, I'm thinking that putting them on a wood chip base for the next few months and cleaning / topping up the wood chip weekly would help keep them clean and maybe a little drier. The idea is to create a veg bed style raised base full of chip, then rest the ark on it so I can lift it off and clean it regularly. At the end of the winter, I can move the chip to the flower beds as mulch and put the ark back on grass.
So, my questions are -
Can pekins live without regular grass intake for the winter (cause I'm at work and leave and arrive when they are in bed all week)?
Will the wood chip be ok at the depth of a scaffold board?
How will the wood c hip react to being wet, as only one side and roof of the ark and extension is shielded from the rain?
Would auboise be better than wood chip?
Will I create a rodent issue with dropped food, as will only be cleaning run at weekends.
The idea is to save for a full height 3m sq. run next spring so I can expand my little flock when my girls get broody, but got to get them thru the winter first.
I move them weekly around the garden, but because it's so wet and muddy, I'm thinking that putting them on a wood chip base for the next few months and cleaning / topping up the wood chip weekly would help keep them clean and maybe a little drier. The idea is to create a veg bed style raised base full of chip, then rest the ark on it so I can lift it off and clean it regularly. At the end of the winter, I can move the chip to the flower beds as mulch and put the ark back on grass.
So, my questions are -
Can pekins live without regular grass intake for the winter (cause I'm at work and leave and arrive when they are in bed all week)?
Will the wood chip be ok at the depth of a scaffold board?
How will the wood c hip react to being wet, as only one side and roof of the ark and extension is shielded from the rain?
Would auboise be better than wood chip?
Will I create a rodent issue with dropped food, as will only be cleaning run at weekends.
The idea is to save for a full height 3m sq. run next spring so I can expand my little flock when my girls get broody, but got to get them thru the winter first.